Tag: Sci-fi

Distant Love (Part 5)

Derek pushes himself in his manual wheelchair out of his room through the automatic door. An electric wheelchair would require far less effort, but his physiotherapist has told him to use the manual one to maintain his muscle tone, especially in a low-gravity environment.

Easy for her to say.

He resides on the third floor of Pod A of Lunar City. The biggest human settlement in Sector C. Ground level, a distance below him, is a hive of activity with people bustling to go about their business. That is of no concern to Derek, who is already close to his workstation. There are no windows. The rotation of the pod would induce motion sickness if you could see outside.

Pausing outside a large metallic door, he reaches for his swipe card in his top pocket.

“I’ve got that.” Derek hears a familiar female voice to his right, which he recognizes as Natasha.

Natasha swipes her card, and they both enter a small office. Derek wheels over to his station, and she takes the remaining one.

They both work in silence.

“Oh, shut up, Derek!” Natasha blurts out.

He responds with a smile, “So, how was your weekend?”

“It was mayhem. Don’t ever have children.” They both laughed.

Distant Love (Part 4)

Derek hears the alarm going off on the electric wheelchair beside his bed.

The worst sound ever.

He rubs his eyes and looks at the gray ceiling above him

Another day, another moon dollar.

Jerking himself forward into a sitting position, he slides his feet over the side of the bed. His movements are slow, awkward due to the cerebral palsy he was born with. It takes time and effort to put on his clothes. The navy uniform that he’s putting on doesn’t stretch as much, making things that bit more difficult.

A busy day lies ahead. He’s one of a dozen flight controllers for Sector C of the moon. Normally, only a handful of ships would traverse Sector C during his shift, but it was projected to be over a dozen this time.

He wonders how Maeve is doing. They haven’t both been online at the same time to communicate. This is not surprising given their shifts and the fact that her spaceship is out of range, close to Earth, some of the time.

She doesn’t know about his disability. He thought about telling her, but nervousness or fear stopped him. Would she even understand the concept that he was not dying, but still needed to use a wheelchair? People born with a disability were seen as something from the barbaric past.

Distant Love (Part 3)

You see, that was the niche her father had decided to market for all those years. “Mooncare” was created. He borrowed a ton of money, and the rest, well, is history. The huge economic growth on Earth has led to demand never being higher.

A beeper goes off. She immediately heads into one of the rooms. “Everything okay?”

A tanned woman with deep facial lines and short white hair is sitting at the side of the bed. She points at a manual wheelchair. “Quiero ir a la sala de entretenimiento.”

Almost instantly, the room’s built-in translator kicks in – “I want to go to the entertainment room.”

Maeve smiled, “Of course, you’re name is Maria, right?” She brought the wheelchair closer to the old woman and helped her into it.

Maria spoke again through the translator. “That’s one of the things I love about this place, the human touch. I hate the carebots back home. They are so cold, and always repeating the same spiel again and again, till they don’t for some random, nonsensical reason. And you are so pretty too! What age are you, my dear?”

“Nineteen, and I am so happy that you are enjoying your trip.”

“So young, to think I am over two hundred.”

Maria pushed her out of the room and found a nice spot for her to park beside a group playing cards.

Altered Carbon Review: A Deep Dive into Punk Sci-Fi

Hello dear readers, I am back once again. This time, a quick review of a series I recently watched on Netflix. It’s considered punk science fiction, set over three hundred years into the future, and consists of two seasons.

It includes the relatively novel idea that you can upload your mind into different bodies called sleeves. There are laws that you cannot double-sleeve, that is, exist in two bodies at the same time, but you can have backups that can be activated if you die. So yes, things get complicated.

From Wikipedia –

The series starts 360 years in the future, with most episodes of the first season set in the year 2384 in a futuristic metropolis known as Bay City. In the future, a person’s memories and consciousness (termed digital human freight, or DHF) are recorded onto a disk-shaped device called a cortical stack, which is implanted in the vertebrae at the back of the neck. These storage devices are of alien design and have been reverse-engineered and mass-produced but can only be made from the material on Harlan’s World. Physical human or synthetic bodies are called “sleeves” and stacks can be transferred to new bodies after death, but a person can still be killed if their stack is destroyed and there is no backup. Only the wealthiest, known as “Meths” have the means to change bodies through clones and remote storage of their consciousness in satellites, so they never have to die of old age before being resleeved.

Takeshi Kovacs, a political operative with mercenary skills, is the sole surviving soldier of the Envoys, a rebel group defeated in an uprising against the new world order.[8] In the first season, set 250 years after the Envoys are destroyed, his stack is pulled out of prison by 300-year-old Meth Laurens Bancroft, one of the wealthiest men in the settled worlds. Bancroft offers him the chance to solve a murder—Bancroft’s own—to get a new shot at life.

The second season takes place in the early 2410s, set 30 years after the first season: Kovacs, now in a new sleeve, continues to search for his lost love and Envoy leader Quellcrist Falconer.

Both series have great pacing, and I remained fully engaged throughout. It contains great action scenes, and the world-building is excellent.

Of particular note is the relationship between Takeshi and his AI companion Edgar Poe, who runs the hotel where he stays. It is unclear why Takeshi decides to stay there. Nobody else has stayed in decades. This is one of the drawbacks to the series. It is based on a book that probably goes into great detail, but is at times glossed over in the series.

They are a great watch, and I give a score of four out of five.

Don’t forget to subscribe and have a great day!

My Journey as a Writer: Updates and Goals

Hello, dear readers, I hope you are all doing well. A quick reminder to consider subscribing to the website to be kept fully updated. It really is the best way.

So what have I been up to? Well, not too much in the last day or two (I’m so lazy). Before then, I did make some steady progress.

Wheelchair Wars – The reworking is almost complete of my far future dystopia, where people with disabilities are forced to fight to the death for entertainment. I’m hoping to have it published (probably self-published), but I’ll try to look for an agent in the new year. I joined an online writing group, and I think I have significantly improved my writing skills. Like everything I do, I will always endeavor to improve.

Pegasus – This action-packed story set hundreds of years in the future recently came to an end. Like Wheelchair Wars, it will be reworked and published at a future date.

Distant Love – I only started this recently. It is still easy to find Part 1. This is my latest story – a sci-fi romance. I’m still working this one out in my head, not sure how long it will be.

General Overview:

I am on track to get a record number of views this year. I’m hoping to break the 2,000 mark. From research, to be a professional blogger would need an absolute minimum of 24,000 views per year. I’m a long way off, but not beyond the realms of impossibility to do it in a few years.

I now have 1,400 followers on Bluesky. My plan is to try and get over 2,000 by the end of the year. Then drive that audience towards here, along with my Twitter and Facebook followers.

Please don’t be afraid to comment. It would be great to have some feedback.

Distant Love Part 2

Will anyone ever tell me I’m pretty?

She was nearly nineteen and her life experience with boys sucked. She recalled her last messages over the moonweb with Derek.

Maeve: Why don’t we exchange photos? Do you look like your avatar?

Derek: Not really. Do you?

Maeve: Yes, a bit. So, will we exchange photos?

Derek: Maybe another time.

Maeve had thrown the mobile onto her bed. It was so frustrating.

She knew she was wasting her time, over four years of it now, but at times, she felt a strong connection. And she can’t be just imagining it. That isn’t who she is.

Derek was smart, razor smart. And they had an interest in many of the same things – chess, music, and Star Systems Regenade War. That’s where they met. He was a dashing commander of the Kuiper Belt Realm, she a General of Venus Command. Their love of conquest helped bond them together.

Her wrist went off. Time to report for duty. She walked out of her room, the automatic doors whooshing open and then closing. This was the main corridor of the spaceship. Not that it looked like one. More like an old folks’ home. It was filled with old people with walking sticks slowly going about their business on the carpet floor.

Distant Love (Sci-fi Romance)

Maeve leans back from her computer monitor. The smell of eaten pizza rafts through the air.

Why did she need to know Maths anyway? Isn’t that what AI was for?

Looking out the window, the blue dot, Earth, is still visible. It is not possible to make out any of the orbiting space stations. The rest is darkness with stars.

She had begun her Maths assignment two hours previously. Most of that time had been spent fidgeting.

Who needs to know about the multiplication of matrices?

She wishes Derek were online. He always knew how to get her to focus. He’d tell her that if she wants to own the family business, she needs to have a grasp of these things. She has to know what to ask the AI.

All very exciting. Did she even want to run the family business? There must be more to life than ferrying a bunch of old people from low Earth orbit to Moon orbit. Like really, that’s all she has to look forward to?

Turning around, she looks at the body-length mirror beside her. Her hand pushes back some of her long red hair over her black uniform, which consisted of a shirt and trousers.

Pegasus (Part 144)

Images of destroyed buildings and women wailing in grief appear on screen. The man began to speak again –

“Similar scenes are being repeated throughout the news. Not only is there this powerplay at the top, but individual habitats and settlements on the Moons, Mars, and Earth are declaring their independence. The Imperial Army has declared that the integrity of the Empire will be maintained. Suzie, it’s hard to see how this ends without much bloodshed.

Breaking news – Nuclear missiles have been launched. It appears the General Atkum has given the authorisation. More missiles have been launched in retaliation. We are minutes from the first detonations. Billions of lives will be lost.”

Tabitha stared into my eyes. My heart was racing, and I was breaking out into a cold sweat.

What had we done?

And was there anything we could do to make amends?

Pegasus (Part 143)

I woke up several hours later. The morning time cycle had started, and rays of light illuminated the room. Tabitha’s arm was resting across my chest. There was only one thought on my mind.

Were there any reports about the death of the Emperor?

I looked around for the remote control. It was resting on the chair beside the bed. It occurred to me that a hotel habitat may not have a great selection of TV channels. Still, those of the nearby habitats are likely to be picked up.

Immediately, I tapped Tabitha’s arm. She looked at the screen aghast, just like me as I turned the volume up. There was an Asian woman in a studio speaking frantically in a language I didn’t understand, but “War” was emblazoned in red along the bottom.

Switching between the channels, trying to find something in English or Irish, I came across 24TVNews. A man in a black suit was speaking to the camera. He was breaking up in tears as he spoke –

“Suzie, the star system is at war. Several hours ago, news was released that the Emperor had died. Almost immediately, power plays among his former generals broke out. Hours later, and the first reports of violence are coming through.”

Pegasus (Part 142)

“We are from O451 and on route to a holiday habitat. Currently experiencing technical issues with our ship and wish to rest. Are we cleared to board?” I responded.

There was no reply for a few moments.

“You are cleared to board.”

In truth, I thought little of it. Maybe it was her first day on the job or something like that. A bit overzealous.

The autopilot kicked in as we drew closer. It set the ship down right in front of the hotel.

“Let’s party!” Leanne shouted.

Tabitha frowned, “No, everyone, keep your heads down. We could be the most wanted people there ever were.”

They seemed to take her comments in. We all had rooms in different parts of the hotel building so as not to draw attention to ourselves and set a time to meet up the following day.. Tabitha and I were on the 17th floor. The hotel was modelled on hotels in Cuba from the 1940s, before the rise of Communism in that country, with luxurious wooden furniture in the lobby. I was surprised by how few other people were around, and our floor seemed empty.

The room was compact with a double bed ensuite, and a television set built into the wall. Exhausted, we took off our clothes and fell asleep.